nifh the governor of Egypt with a pretext for putting them to death as cheats and robbers. What is this, faid they, that God hath done unto us, for they faw the hand of Providence in it, and expected it would only lead to their further chaftifement and correction for their iniquity.

WHEN they arrived at the house of their aged parent, they relate the fingular occurrences of their journey, as they had happened to them. But what moft ftruck the good old man was the detention of Simeon, and the requifition of Benjanin. Moving is the expoftulation of Jacob on this occafion, Me ye have bereaved of my chil dren, Jofeph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away, all thefe things are against me. Feeble age ftands

in need of fome prop and fupport. Jacob faw, in his children, the ftrength and comfort of his declining years; to have thefe wrefted from him one by one, was more than he could well bear: The lofs he had already experienced, enhanced the value of the remainder, and rendered them doubly dear. He feems to himfelf a man perfecuted on all fides by the arrows of adverfe fortune, afflictions in his family, and a famine at his doors! In fuch circumftances, what wonder if human infirmity utters the complaint

All thefe things are against me. Yet how ignorant is man of the designs of Heaven Thofe very circumftances of which Jacob fo loudly complains, are all working together for good, all tending to the confummation of his earthly happiness, when he fhall tafte

the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

IN vain does Reuben, the eldeft fon, ftd forward to expoftulate with his father and to offer fecurity for the fafety of Benjamin, faying, Slay my two fons if I bring him not to thee again

the meaning of which is not that his children fhould be flain, but that he would be not lefs careful and folicitous for the return of Benjamin, than if the lives of his two fons were at stake, who were as dear to him, as Benjamin was to his father, deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

THE old man is deaf to all entreaties, and peremptorily declares, that his fon fhall not go down with them, that he had already loft one of the fons of

the beloved Rachel, and to lose the other would shorten and embitter the remainder of his days; His brother is dead, and he is left alone; if mifchief befal him in the way in which ye go, then hall ye bring down my grey hairs with forrow to the grave.

HERE We will take leave of Jacob and his family, for the prefent; and having advanced thus far in the letter of the hiftory, we will now proceed to confider its myftic meaning and fpiritual application.

JOSEPH whom we have feen fold by his brethren, tried, tempted, exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh, and fet over the affairs of Egypt; is the TYPE OF CHRIST betrayed into the hands of finners, tempted in all points like as we

are, exalted to the right hand of God, and head over all things to his Church.

We are the fons of Jacob, the brethren of Jofeph: In our land the famine rages, a famine not of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. Egypt was anciently the land of fcience and wifdom_the going down into Egypt to buy food, may therefore be interpreted, as the procuring to ourselves knowledge, which is the food of the mind, and maketh wife unto falvation. Jefus is the Lord of the country, for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Little do we think that he who is Lord of the country, Lord of Heaven and of earth, is our brother and kinfinan after the flesh. We dread his power, but we know not his love. He